In many electronic applications it is necessary to connect optical signal lines to printed circuit boards (PCB). To this end, it is necessary to provide optical modules that are arranged on the PCB. These optical modules further comprise in general a suitable optical connector, respectively interface, to transfer light signals from a fiber cable to the photonic device or vice-versa. Optical modules are for example receivers, transmitters, transceivers and transponders for data- and telecommunication applications configured to send optical signals derived from electrical signals and/or receive optical signals which are transformed into electrical signals.
Optical modules known in the art, such as Finisar® BOA (Board-Mount Optical Assembly) are mounted on a PCB and receive or transmit light perpendicular to the plane of the PCB. However, a major problem in this context is high space consumption due to optical cable guiding, since the connection angle in this case (perpendicular to the plane of the PCB) is 90°. The connection angle is thereby defined as the angle enclosed by the received/transmitted light and the plane of the PCB.
A system that receives or transmits light parallel to the plane of the PCB (connection angle: 0° respectively 180°) is known from U.S. Pat. No. 6,867,377 B2, wherein a flexible printed circuit board is used in connection with an optical transmitter module. The optical transmitter is attached on the flexible printed circuit board in a first region of the flexible printed circuit board. In a second region, the flexible circuit board is soldered to a PCB. For emitting light signals in a plane parallel to the PCB, an ashlar-formed element is placed on the second region of the flexible circuit board and the first region is bent upward and attached to the ashlar formed element. However, these systems are inappropriate to design optoelectrical connector arrays on a single PCB, since the first row of connectors would block the second row of connectors from being connected.
From WO 2012/097979 A1 optical modules are known that receive or transmit light under a defined angle relative to the plane of the PCB, so that multiple connectors can be arranged in an array on one PCB. To this end, an optical coupler having a first and a second light coupling port is used to bend the beam path of the emitted and/or received light signal. This optical coupler is connected to a known optical module, which is placed on a PCB. A light guiding member inside the optical coupler, which connects the first and second light coupling port, redirects the light so that it passes the optical coupler under a desired angle. However, due to said redirection of the light signal significant bending losses occur as well as coupling losses, since at least two optical connectors are necessary.
It is therefore one object to provide an optoelectrical connector module that offers an improved way of connecting a known connector (such as a MT ferrule) in a defined angle different from 0° and 90° (i.e. between 0° and 90°, like e.g. 30°) relative to the plane of a PCB to an optical module to allow a great number of optoelectrical connector systems to be used in parallel or in form of connector arrays, while keeping a compact design of low height. Preferably, the optoelectrical connector module can be manufactured simple and cost efficient and should most preferably reduce bending and coupling losses of the light signal. Still further, the optoelectrical connector module should provide an improved cooling mechanism. These and other objects which will become apparent upon reading the following description are solved by an optoelectrical connector module according to claim 1.